Anastomosis is a procedure where two separate tubular or hollow organs are surgically grafted together to form a continuous fluid channel between them. Vascular anastomosis involves creating an anastomosis between blood vessels to create or restore blood flow. When a patient suffers from coronary artery disease (CAD), an occlusion or stenosis in a coronary artery restricts blood flow to the heart muscle. In order to treat CAD, the area where the occlusion occurs is bypassed to reroute blood flow by grafting a vessel in the form of a harvested artery or vein, or a prosthesis. Anastomosis is performed between a graft vessel and two target vessels in order to bypass the blocked coronary artery, circumvent the occlusion and restore adequate blood flow to the heart muscle. This treatment is known as a coronary artery bypass graft procedure (CABG).
In a CABG procedure, a graft vessel such as a saphenous vein, mammary artery, radial artery or other blood vessel is harvested from the patient or another source, then placed in a bowl or other container and immersed in saline, blood or other biocompatible liquid. Before that graft vessel is connected to the target vessels, it may be prepared in some way, such as by connecting it to an anastomosis device and/or a tool for applying the anastomosis device. The graft vessel is typically connected to the anastomosis device and/or tool manually by one or more people in the operating room, using forceps, tweezers and/or other tools. Substantial skill is required to connect the slippery graft vessel to the anastomosis device and/or tool without damaging the graft vessel or otherwise rendering it unusable.